The bid to save the embattled Ithala Bank from liquidation has received a major boost from King Misuzulu kaZwelithini who has convened an imbizo (a mass gathering) to discuss measures to save the bank from collapse.
The bank is in a legal battle with the South African Reserve Bank’s Prudential Authority which has filed papers in the Pietermaritzburg High Court for its provisional liquidation.
Although the Prudential Authority cited non-compliance as the reason for the application, the matter has been turned into a political football by politicians and other stakeholders who are opposed to the closure of the bank.
In a statement the king’s former Traditional Prime Minister Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi, said the imbizo will take place on Friday at the newly built royal palace, Emashobeni, near Pongola on the north-east of KwaZulu-Natal.
Buthelezi said the imbizo ‘is the most important gathering that His Majesty can convene, and it is held only to discuss and resolve matters that pose a threat to the Zulu Kingdom’.
He said part of the matters that the king will want to be discuss are Ithala bank and the Ingonyama Trust
“In this regard, His Majesty is calling upon all Amakhosi, members of the Royal family, Izinduna, and Amabutho of the Zulu Kingdom to gather for Imbizo to discuss matters relating to Ingonyama and Ithala bank,” read the statement.
The king is joining politicians and other stakeholders to save the 60-year-old Ithala bank which is teetering on the brink of collapse.
Those opposed to the Prudential Authority include the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government who said that they suspect a third hand behind the decision, arguing that the closure will leave poor black, rural communities with no option but to go ‘to unfriendly commercial banks which are mostly owned by white businesses’.
The other burning issue which is likely to raise tempers amongst traditional leaders is who between the king and the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Mzwanele Nyhontso, controls the land under the Ingonyama Trust as well as powers over the Trust board.
The government and the king are at loggerheads over the control of the trust after the king fired the board only for it to be reinstated by Nyhontso who told the king that it was he who had powers to remove the board, not the king.
Other matters the king is likely to touch on are the filling of the crucial positions, including that of the traditional prime minister and of his spokesperson.
It has been reported that inkosi Zuzifa Buthelezi, the son of the late inkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi is one of the front runners for the position of the traditional prime minister. Others names that have been have thrown into the ring include former Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize. The position was left vacant after the king fired Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi in December last year, however, reappointing him has not been ruled out after the king asked him to perform the duties of the prime minister and to informing the nation about the imbizo.
willem.phungula@inl.co.za